Portrait Photographers Miami Florida Celebrity Portrait Photography

I’m deeply honored to have won a PDN Annual Award for photography website design for the second time in three years. Very grateful for the outstanding reception that our newly re-designed website has received. In addition to PDN’s Award, Brian Smith Pictures landed accolades from the One Eyeland Awards. WordPress.org selected us for their showcase of WordPress-powered websites. We’re currently the second ranked website on their showcase, right behind Mr. Right Stuff Chuck Yeager’s official website. Sure, it was a bit of a ballsy move to rip up a website that PDN honored in 2011, but time marches on. Once we came to the realization that Apple would never support Flash, it was time to dump our old host. The goal was to give the entire site, including our blog, an integrated look that would look the same across all platforms from desktop to iPhone. I never could have pulled it off without my great partners from Quadshot Software Solutions. Kudos to our project overlord Michael Cremean, Jennifer Precious Finch our Custom Style Savant and our website architect Chris Webb. You guys ROCK!

We scrapped our Flash website and rebuilt using WordPress for a consistent look across all platforms including Flash-loathing iDevices – all without giving up the photo slideshows than many of you loved…

Showcasing a wide-array of out favorite portrait shoots of athletes, celebrities and the rich and fabulous.

Along with some of out favorite projects like Nude Golf photographed for Sports Illustrated.

We added better navigation than ever before with a round-up of photo galleries on our home page.

We added a section about our books ‘Secrets of Great Portrait Photography’ and ‘Art & Soul’.

And included some of the best interviews that we’ve done over the years…

Thanks for the L-O-V-E, PDN!

APA/EP and APA/NW proudly present:

Photography & Social Media Strategic Licensing in the Internet Age

with Jeff Sedlik and James Lorin Silverberg, Esq.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
at Seattle Central Community College’s room BE5112
7:00 to 9:00 PM
Social Half-hour at 6:30
RSVP required – RSVP Here

Social Media sounds like a great set of tools for your business, but just what are you signing up for? Turns out there’s a lot more to social media than just getting re-tweets, likes, and +1s. Can we keep our images from escaping our control? How can we use it to our benefit?

Often focusing only on the rewards of social media exposure, many photographers fail to recognize the sometimes shocking and potentially irreversible consequences that come with the use of these platforms. Would you click on that “Terms Of Use Agreement” if you really knew what it said? Maybe not!

Next, hear Jeff Sedlik, President of the PLUS Coalition, past National President of the Advertising Photographers of America, and a Professor at the Art Center College of Design, as he shares advances in PLUS, the Picture Licensing Universal System, and how that might impact social media.

Join I.P. attorney Silverberg and PLUS Coalition CEO and licensing guru Sedlik as we uncover some hidden pitfalls of social media sites, what we can do about them, and how we might maximize their advantages. Learn the best ways to get your work seen without losing complete control!

Full details, including directions and parking info are here.

Carl Zeiss has announced two very sweet lenses for Sony NEX: the Zeiss Touit 12mm f2.8 wide angle lens and 32mm f1.8 normal lens. Zeiss lenses are my favorite lenses both for Sony Alpha and medium format. They’re sharp, smooth and very well made. If you haven’t shot with a Zeiss glass you have no idea what you are missing.

The Zeiss Touit 12mm f2.8 lens has a 99 degree angle of view and makes a perfect lens for landscapes, architecture and those that love wide angle shots. In order to create a lightweight lens, Zeiss has used a combination of materials including a durable plastic, yet the bayonet and parts that require accuracy are made of a rigid metal. The lens is constructed of 11 elements in 8 groups. When the angle of view becomes extreme, the retrofocus design of the Distagon lens can also be the ideal choice when the camera is not an SLR.

The Zeiss Touit 32mm f1.8 lens has a 48 degree angle of view making it a perfect ‘normal’ lens for Sony NEX shooters especially portrait and street shooters. The lens is constructed with the same materials as the 12mm lens making is lightweight. The lens has 8 elements in 5 groups. The lens has a 9 blade iris creating a near perfect circular aperture. The lens is constructed of 11 elements in 8 groups. The Planar lens type is the most successful – and the most frequently copied – lens design of all time. It offers lens calculators numerous opportunities for almost complete correction of all optical aberrations, and is therefore even today the basis for the design and construction of modern, high-performance lenses. Modification of this proven, six-lens, basic design can achieve significantly improved performance for use with today’s image sensors.

Zeiss Touit lenses are designed and constructed specifically for use on Sony NEX and Fuji X Series cameras with APS-C sensors. The lenses are fully-compatible and support all camera functions, including autofocus.

The lenses will be available in June

The 12mm f/2.8 lens can be pre-ordered for $1,250
The 32mm f/1.8 lens can be pre-ordered for $900

Please come join me at SNAP Orlando for a Workshop on the Secrets of Great Portrait Lighting on May 5th. SNAP Orlando is a great photography event for Florida – it’s your chance to meet my fellow speakers including photographer Jill Greenberg and Brian Clamp, Director of ClampArt Gallery in New York.

Location: Orange Studio: 1121 North Mills Ave, Orlando 32803
Date: Sunday May 5, 2013
Time: 12-3PM

Description: Sony Artisan of Imagery/Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Smith will share his use of lighting modifiers to create bold iconic portrait photography of Hollywood’s A-list. You’ll learn how to work quickly under pressure, on productions both small and large.

Register here

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More speaking appearances by Brian Smith.

B&H Event Space Presents Brian Smith: Secrets of Great Portrait Photography

Tuesday, April 30, 2013 | 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
B&H Photo, 420 9th Ave, New York, NY 10001
sponsored by Sony

Celebrity portrait photographer Brian Smith shares the lessons he’s learned over the past 30 years capturing the faces of the famous and infamous as a top magazine portrait photographer. Brian will discuss his approach to editorial and commercial assignments from concept to final images, and detailing his approach to lighting and problem solving on productions both small and large. Smith will also share secrets about how to quickly capture the personality of the people you photograph and he will also discuss how personal projects can be used to generate editorial and commercial assignments, and allow your personal style to evolve and grow while generating assignments you love to shoot. Smith will share celebrity portraits of from his new book ‘Secrets of Great Portrait Photography’ to show ways that you can make everyone you photograph look and feel like a star.

Register here

More speaking appearances by Brian Smith.

APA/Editorial Photographers Announces Education Grants 2013!

Begun in 2008 as an effort to recognize and support emerging photographers, APA/Editorial Photographers is pleased to announce the winners of the 2013 APA Editorial Photographers’ Education Grants.

Anna Beeke / School of Visual Arts / New York
Kristina Varaksina / Academy of Art University / San Francisco
Michelle Rogers Pritzl / Art Institute of Boston / Boston
Neko Jen Reindl / Academy of Art University / San Francisco
Stacy Kranitz / UC Irvine / Irvine, CA
Sara Lewkowicz / Ohio University / Athens, OH

Anna Beeke
School of Visual Arts
New York

Kristina Varaksina
Academy of Art University
San Francisco, California

Michelle Rogers Pritzl
Art Institute of Boston
Boston

Neko Jen Reindl
Academy of Art University
San Francisco

Stacy Kranitz
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, California

Sara Lewkowicz
Ohio University
Athens, Ohio

What the judges had to say:

David Griffin, Visuals Editor for the Washington Post said, “What I enjoyed about the judging was the diversity of approaches from the studio to the street – with the very best exhibiting high quality and appropriately applied technique.”

Molly Roberts, Chief Photography Editor at Smithsonian magazine noted, “I was extremely impressed by the range of work, from constructed images, to conceptual portraits, to creative still-life, and in depth reportage. It’s clear that the medium is alive and well and providing a very flexible tool for creative expression, as well as serious storytelling. I look forward to continuing to follow the work of these creative young photographers, and I commend the photographic educators for their commitment and for preparing the next generation to carry on our collective passion for photography.”

Brian Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and President of APA Editorial Photographers said, “I was blown-away by the outstanding quality of work entered this year. It was extremely difficult to narrow it down because so many strong and deserving entries. From what we saw, I’d have to say that the future of photography certainly looks extremely bright.”

Each Winner Receives:

$1000 Grant courtesy of APA/EP and Blinkbid.
PhotoShelter Standard Account for one year
ThinkTankPhoto Airport 4-Sight rolling camera bag
Blinkbid Business Software
Cradoc Software’s fotoQuote 6.0
One-year APA student membership with winning entries shown on the APA/EP website

Thanks to all the entrants and congratulations to the recipients!

View the winners of the EP Education Grants

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Come join me at Santa Monica College on Thursday, April 25, 2013 from 6:45-9:45pm for a photography panel of PDN’s 30 2013. Panelists will share advice for emerging photographers including our perspectives from getting started to how we got our where we are today. We’ll talk about our promotional efforts and how we got our first jobs and continue to grow and get work.

PDN 30: Strategies for Young Working Photographers

Thursday, April 25, 2013 6:45-9:45pm
Santa Monica College
Room HSS – 165
1900 Pico Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90495

MODERATOR: Holly Hughes/PDN Editor
PANELISTS: PDN 30 2013 Award Winners: Jessica Sample, Michael Friberg, Ian Allen and Sony Artisan of Imagery Brian Smith

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More speaking appearances by Brian Smith.

SURVIVAL GUIDE TO EDITORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Date: Wednesday April 24, 2013
Time: 7pm
California State University Long Beach
University Theater (UT 108)
1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, California 90840

Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Smith, President of APA Editorial Photographers, will discuss how to maximize the creative and commercial rewards while avoiding bad contracts and stagnant rates. Seminar Topics include: How production value can make your work stand out; How to charge properly for digital processing; The best things you can do in a slow economy; How to maximize re-licensing, syndication and reprint revenue; How the shift to online content will affect rates; What you should know about editorial that nobody told you.

Brian Smith will share insights from his last 30 years as a editorial photographer as he moved from Pulitzer Prize-winning sports photographer to shooting celebrity portraits of Hollywood’s A-List. Smith will speak about both the art and commerce of editorial photography and what every artist needs to know about business of photography to remain in business. In this presentation, Smith will share ways to grab and keep the attention of photo editors and art directors; how shooting personal projects can promote your vision and land the jobs you’ll love to shoot; and ways to keep your portfolio and vision fresher than next year’s winner of The X Factor.

This Event is Free and Open to the Public

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K5600 rolled out their cool new HMI lights that offer an easy change from Daylight to Tungsten balance with a simple change of a bulb. These 200 watt lights will be available in both K5600′s current Joker bug line along with a really sweet new compact Fresnel housing. Two light kits are expected to sell for around $3500 when they begin shipping this summer. And yes, you can mix and match.

HMI’s are 4-5 times more efficient so 200 watt HMIs offer the equivalent output of 800-1000 watt tungsten bulbs. Also check out K5600 new Zoom Beamer reflector for their 1600 HMI Joker and their new and improved ballasts. I love the versatility of looks you can get out of their really clever design.

Here’s a look at a celebrity portrait shoot using K5600 on The X Factor.

The Kessler Pocket Jib Traveler isn’t the first ultra-portable travel jib to hit the market, but rather than follow the competition, Kessler serves up some cool tricks of their own. Made to fit into your suitcase, the Pocket Jib Traveler is 27 inches in length when collapsed, but gives your HDSLR a 72-inch wingspan when fully extended and weighs in at just about 5 lbs.